Robert H. Jurick dies at 84

Creating a family atmosphere and treating his employees with respect no matter the pay or title level was the key to former Five Towns resident Robert H. Jurick’s success, his son Jeffrey said.

Born on March 1, 1926, Jurick died on Nov. 9 in Boca Raton, Fla., after battling congenital heart disease for more than three years. He was 84.

Jurick and his wife Lyn lived in Hewlett from 1961 to 1990 and were prominent members of the community as strong supporters of Five Towns Community Chest and the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. They were instrumental in establishing a Ronald McDonald House (the 100th) on the LIJ campus in New Hyde Park and the Monter Cancer Center also on the LIJ campus.

“I would say the best times with him was when he was closing a big deal which he shared everybody,” said Jeffrey, who noted that his father treated the business as a family business whether there was three employees or the 750 they later employed.

A year after he married Lyn in 1951, Jurick joined the Fifth Avenue Lettershop Association (Fala). Lyn was the daughter of FALA founder Beatrice Goodman Robins.

In 1978, Jurick launched Fala Direct Marketing and the business expanded to include an array of services including printing, data processing, fulfillment, response management and presorting.

At its peak Fala had nearly 750 employees working at four Long Island facilities and processed more than 1 billion pieces of mail annually. In 2005, Fala was sold partially to Pitney Bowes and Citibank Venture Capital and Instant Web, now known as IWCO.

In addition, the business produced the first computerized letter, which was done for BusinessWeek magazine, created the first check donation package for a presidential candidate (George McGovern) and for First Chicago Bank developed the first balance transfer check program.

“He always used to say there is no I in team, he was a motivational leader with a can do attitude,” said Jeffrey, who noted that leadership and providing the highest level of service were vital components to his father’s business philosophy.

The Juricks were also avid golfers who played the course at the Inwood Country Club, where Lyn was a club champion, but her husband played what Jeffrey said his father called “military golf.”

“He would hit it left, right, he was a long hitter but it went left, right,” said Jeffrey, who added that his parents, “loved playing golf together.”

Despite his limited success on the links, Jurick developed a handicap program for the country club that was later bought by the Metropolitan Golf Association.

The military background came from Jurick’s service in the U.S. Army in World War II, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and was part of the force that liberated France. He was awarded the Bronze Star and a Good Conduct medal.

“He would walk the floor and say hello to everybody, he was the greatest ambassador for our organization,” said Jeffrey, who added that his dad loved teaching direct marketing (Hofstra, NYU) and set up the Robert and Jeffrey Jurick Scholarship at Syracuse University and the Beatrice and Samuel Robins Scholarship for the children of Fala employees. “He was very big on teaching and giving back to the community.”

Jurick is survived by his wife of 59 years and Jeffrey and his wife Lisa, daughter Susan and son-in-law Maurice, and grandchildren Brittany, Alix and Batya.